Build Links by Maintaining Relationships
Writing by Brick Marketing in Link Building
Link building is a huge component of an SEO strategy since inbound links to a site are what help to establish trust and relevance with the search engines. Link building has undergone many facelifts through the years. At one time almost any link had value and paying for links wasn’t uncommon. The search engines now consider these kinds of link schemes to be a black hat approach. There is a right way to build links and a wrong way and the right way is to build links naturally. Of course, the only way that will happen is if others are linking to you and sharing your content. The first step is to create great content that is worthy of being shared. The second step is to create and maintain relationships with those that have shared your content or would be likely to share your content in the future. Here’s how:
Initiate a relationship
In order to get noticed within the community it’s necessary to get active within it. Spend some time researching industry related blogs and contribute to the conversation by posting comments that add value and demonstrate your knowledge. If you find certain blog posts particularly useful, link to it. Share the work of others in social media. Provide business referrals to others if applicable. All of these tactics will help to get you noticed and respected within the industry. People are much more willing to help out those that have previously helped them out.
Foster the relationship
Check to see who is already linking to you naturally. This can be done by checking your analytics and your social media. Are there certain people that link to you often? Do they frequently share your content in social media? Reach out to these people and thank them for advocating your work.
Utilize social media
Follow influential people in the industry within social media that you’d like to connect with. Not only will this give you access to some great information, but it provides the opportunity to get noticed. Re-tweet, share, and post their content and be sure to @ mention them. This will encourage these people to return the favor when the time comes.
Make connections offline
Everyone is online today and it’s easy to follow someone on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ and consider that to be networking. But what about old fashioned in person networking? This too can go a long way in helping to build a link portfolio over time. Attend industry events like trade shows, conferences, and seminars. Meeting someone face to face is a much more powerful connection than simply clicking the “follow” button on Twitter.
Natural links based on relationships can be difficult to achieve, but these are the types of links that carry much more weight with the search engines. It can take time to establish these relationships but they will be very valuable in the long run. Relationship building should be an ongoing part of a link building campaign. In addition to improving a link portfolio, these relationships can lead to other opportunities as well.
